The chatter about Cain dies down as the announcer takes the stage to begin the formalities before the day's fights.
"Welcome everyone to day four of the monthly Awakened tournament. It seems we have some esteemed guests in the crowd today, so I am certain every one of our contestants will be doing their very best to impress. The matches are the same as always, three rounds at two minutes each. No skills which restrict resurrection or cause decapitation are allowed, with a death penalty for violations. By now we all know the rules, so let us get started."
That makes sense to Cain, if accidental death is a risk, it only makes sense to prohibit skills that will prevent the healers from bringing the defeated fighter back to life.
The fighters are going all out against each other, revealing that every ring is surrounded by a barrier to keep the spell effects inside as well as preventing combatants from being ejected into the crowd by the force of the attacks that are being leveled against them. The rings are ten meters across, but that isn't nearly enough space for fights at this level to happen without running into the barriers.
Aoi clearly has her favorite, a Fallen Angel who is fighting in the second round. This one isn't as naturally strong as the child Cain met back in Blood Sands Castle, having only one set of wings, but he has progressed to Mythic Awakening through hard work. He is a favorite of many of the women in the crowd, who scream and cheer when he takes the stage, spreading his wings and flexing to show off for them. Now Cain understands why they fight shirtless, it's all part of the show.
Nobody cares about a winner with no style, they come to watch the ones who are the most entertaining.
Being a Demon, he is quite strong and fast in his own right, even before the class advantages of being a Shadow Assassin. The class itself is not particularly special and that makes Cain take a better look around the rings.
Most of the fighters are between level 300 and 400, with some higher, all Mythic Awakened, as that is the class fighting now. According to Aoi, there are Spirit, Immortal, and Divine Awakenings above this, but seeing them here on the Continent is a rare thing. During the war between the Gods, many of the higher awakenings decided they wanted nothing to do with such foolishness and isolated themselves in a separate realm, a Mirror of the world Cain is currently in, created through the efforts of the Gods and thousands of Divine warriors working together.
Come to think of it, the little Seraphim mentioned something about a different plane, but Cain had assumed that it was something unique to the Seraphim. Listening to Aoi, it seems that it is not, instead it is reserved for the more powerful Awakened. That seems like the sort of thing that the Laughing God would approve of, creating a mirror of reality so that once mortals reached the very pinnacle of the world he could transport them to the mirror and have them start all over at the bottom once again.
Cain briefly wonders if he would use the old faithful transfer system and start them in the Beginners Village again. Likely not for him, as he wasn't human anymore, but it would be a great laugh for the champions of the mortal realm to end up starting all over exactly as they did on their arrival here.
If he gets a chance, Cain decides he will ask the Ley Line activation machine in the Ancient Ruins about the mirrored world. Perhaps not all the ancients are dead, only gone. If that's the case, maybe he could one day meet more like himself? Though, with their reputation and what he has heard of them, they might well have fought to the last to protect what they viewed as theirs instead of running away when the foreign Deities invaded.
The Ladies Champion, as Cain has dubbed the demon with the feathery black wings, made short work of his opponent, pummeling him unconscious in the first round. A good portion of the crowd, Aoi included, is on their feet cheering for him, and the referee is trying to chase him out of the ring to get the next fight started, making the rest of the crowd laugh.
His performance seems to have increased the level of showmanship among the winners though, so Cain decides to ask Aoi about the reason it would even matter.
The Youkai looks at him like he is a bit dense, before laughing and answering. "Because they get a split of the bets placed on themselves of course. The tournament circuit decided that was the fairest way to pay fighters. Instead of a flat fee, the fighters get a share of the gambling profits. You will also see some that sandbag, making their fights look tight to increase their own betting odds in the next round, hoping for a heavy upset victory and a big payday."
Now that's the way to do it. Knowing that it was really a show put on for prize money and not just some fight for pride makes the tournament a hundred times more interesting to Cain.
"What do you say we pick up tickets in advance for the rest of the week ladies? I wouldn't mind watching this one through."
There are no objections, watching the matches seems like a good way to unwind, and they need time to learn about the continent before they just go running blindly into danger, especially knowing that there is a rank of awakening above Mythic that could be wandering around out there, taking just as little damage from them as they take from the unawakened. Finding a hungry Spirit Awakened beast could be a very bad day for them if the damage reduction scales the same way between awakenings.
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